


Wasteland, baby!

by Sheisgoldenvol6



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: End of the World, M/M, Song: Wasteland Baby! (Hozier), larry stylinson - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-21
Updated: 2021-03-20
Packaged: 2021-03-29 01:02:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30148353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sheisgoldenvol6/pseuds/Sheisgoldenvol6
Summary: When the end of the world was announced 3 weeks ago Harry wasn't afraid of death. Sure he grieved the loss of people still alive but he came to terms with his own fate. That is until Harry met someone who made him question everything he knew in life, someone who made him afraid to die.
Relationships: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik/Liam Payne
Kudos: 1





	Wasteland, baby!

The announcer sounded more cheerful than you would imagine given the context of this final broadcast. Schools had shut down a month ago and only essential shops were open to keep the general public alive and well for the final weeks. Harry had fully accepted the situation, it would be wasteful to wallow in pity during these last moments in life so he decided to go on with pretending nothing was wrong. In the beginning, it was hard, he mourned the losses of people still alive and felt like he wasted his 17 years of life. The 5 stages of grief hit him in a total of 3 days; denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Once the final stage hit he decided to do what he’s always wished for and put off, harry became a morning person. Not in the ways that he was happy to wake up early but he did have a routine that made it easier to adjust. At 7:00 am he woke up and threw on his band tee of choice for the day and walked to the local diner to get exactly 3 blueberry pancakes with maple syrup and a black coffee which he swears is perfectly good but never takes more than five sips from. Finally, after finishing his breakfast he walks to the record shop and pretends not to know anything about The Rolling Stones so the cute boy who works there will explain it to him. It wasn’t the most elaborate and frivolous routine but it was Harry's routine and he thoroughly enjoyed it, this morning especially.  
He got ready as normal and said good morning to his mom and Gemma before walking out the door. As he walked down the backroad encased in the fog a single ray of sunlight cast his shadow upon an abandoned building that was once a designated smoke spot, Harry began to notice the details about his small town overlooked by the enormity of the neighboring city and memories flooded back.

Upon arriving at the diner he noticed a peculiar sight. Seated in his designated spot was a boy, about the same age as him reading a book and drinking orange juice. Not wanting to make a fuss he sat 2 seats over than normal and proceeded to order his breakfast. His coffee came first and as he raised the mug to his lips a voice echoed from the neighboring seat.  
“You know that stuffs shit”  
“Excuse me?” Harry asked not knowing how to respond  
“Stunts your growth and tastes like ass”  
“Well I like it”  
“No you don’t harry, you drink a sip from it every morning and leave the rest for Annie to clean up” Jim; the diner cook, shouts from behind the window.  
Silence rang through before another comment was quietly spoken  
“It’s okay I don’t like it either,” says the boy reading the book  
But harry knew that because 2 minutes earlier he was being shamed for drinking black coffee by the same boy.  
A simple nod from harry settled the minuscule disagreement and they finished their separate breakfasts in quiet.

An hour had passed and Harry began his walk to the record shop. He was too consumed with his phone to realize the same boy from the diner was sitting outside with his legs out and without warning, he tripped and hit the ground hard, hard enough to crush the take-home box with an extra pancake; courtesy of Jim.  
“Dammit,” harry says under his breath  
“Are you okay?” the boy says standing to help harry up  
“Yeah I’ll be fine, I just don’t know about this” harry responds holding up the broken styrofoam container.  
“Oh, sorry about that”  
A brief moment of silence interrupts  
“I’m Louis,” the boy says while placing his book on the cold concrete  
“Harry,” Harry says with a kindly half-smile  
“Well I should let you get back to wherever you're going”  
Harry nods his head in agreement and continues his way into the record store

“Hey man” Niall Horan greets harry as he walks in  
“Hey Niall, have you guys got any Elton john records lately,” harry asks not minding the boy he’s usually infatuated with  
“Uh I can ask eve but their on break now so you’ll have to wait a bit”  
“That’s fine,” Harry says patiently while scanning the store for any new findings

After about ten minutes eve walks out of the break room to find harry wandering the folk section of the store. Harry notices and begins to ask about his current musical obsession "if it sounds good, it sounds even better on vinyl" is a motto Harry lived by and that didn't subside even when he knew the world would cave in during the coming weeks. The record store had always been a place of comfort for harry as his mom used to take him and his sister Gemma there on their birthdays and any little event that felt like the perfect excuse to buy a new record. The crisp smell and unhinged tidiness of the shop was a perfect memory to hold onto so this became a second home for harry to relive the days where his mom wasnt sick.  
He was lucky that day, they had just got a shipment of ‘madman across the water” and without hesitation as soon as harry had it in his hands he immediately pulled out a crisp $20 bill to hand to Niall at the register.  
“You coming to the rooftop later” niall asks harry with genuine interest  
“Depends if Zayn and Liam decide, you know my mom doesnt like me going out there alone at night” harry responds  
“Well if you decide to join theres always an extra blunt” Niall jokes back  
“Thanks, well hopefully ill see you there”  
“You too man, have a good one”  
Harry waves back at the blond boy before exiting the shop and starting his way back home.

As he enters his home he drops his keys in the dish next to the door that he made in 7th grade art class, harry hates it but anne refuses to move it because it reminds her of her ‘baby boy’. He heads to his poster covered room before unwrapping the new vinyl and setting it on the record player. As the sounds of piano and tiny dancer fills the room harry flops onto his bed and stares at the ceiling thinking about everything in life that lead him to this moment. He thinks of the time he was five and scraped his knee when he fell off his bike and how his dad took him to get ice cream afterwards because he “handled it like a champ”. Or the time he had his first kiss with a boy he’d just met in the local ice rink after mutual friends dared them. He thought about how that boy came to be his best friend. Liam had always been there for harry. They tried dating for a few months in 9th grade but it wasn’t meant to be so they decided they were better off as friends and they stayed the best of friends. Through countless breakups, family problems, first times, last times and hell, even the end of the world. Harry liked it this way he liked how his friendship with Liam blossomed into a friend group with zayn who was dating Liam, Annie who also dated Liam until they both realized they were gay and Jordan the token straight of the group but they all love her.  
Harry was in his own state of mind before realizing two hours had passed. It was 2:30 and he had an hour to meet Liam and Zayn at the little cafe in the town center. He got up and put a thrifted sweater on and some jeans along with his cross and pearl necklaces so he could look somewhat acceptable if they decided to join Niall at the abandoned rooftop in the city. Harry says bye to his mom and sister again before heading out the door and starting his car. Normally he would walk but contradicting the fact it was the middle of June it was too chilly for him to justify the 3 mile walk.  
After arriving Harry inhales the aroma of coffee and warm spices before zayn greets him.  
“Hey Harry, we’re over here” he says from the far corner of the cafe the boys had chosen as their designated spot.  
Harry waves and begins to walk over as he notices a familiar face on the backside of the booth sitting next to Liam.  
“I hope you don’t mind we invited our friend Louis he just moved here from the city” Liam says as harry settles himself  
Harry found many things about it odd, why was Louis just moving there when he had only 3 weeks left? How did he meet Liam and zayn? And most importantly how did he keep finding his way back to harry the entire day? Harry brushed all his confusion aside to try and seem friendly.  
“Hello” harry says waving to the group  
“Nice to see you again” Louis says smiling at harry  
“Yeah you too” Harry responds  
Liam and Zayn stare at each other in confusion  
“Have you guys met before” Zayn blurts out  
“Yeah how do you guys know each other” Liam says in compliance with his boyfriend  
“Uh it’s a long story” Harry says trying to hold back a chuckle after thinking of their previous encounter  
“So basically I completely ruined his breakfast” Louis starts  
“Oh please elaborate on that” Liam reply’s  
“It’s nothing big” Harry says “we just ran into each other this morning and Louis was very .... blunt, yeah. And then I tripped over him on the sidewalk”  
Louis nods his head looking at the two boys  
“Well then” Liam blurts “what is everyone thinking of ordering”  
“I’m having my usual” Zayn responds  
“Iced oat milk latte and a muffin” Says Harry  
“I’m not that hungry I’ll just have an iced chai” Louis finally adds in  
“Sounds good let’s order”

A few moments later Zayn walks back from the counter with everyone’s food and drinks. For the next hour they go on with comedic small talk trying to ease some tension since Louis was not exactly comfortable being new while hanging out with the long time friends.  
“Hey did you guys wanna get out of this place and drive down to the roof, niall asked me if we would come today”  
“Yeah let’s go” Liam and Zayn say in unison  
“Who’s Niall” Louis asks with an awkward confusion  
“Harry’s loverboy” Liam teases  
“Stooooppppp” Harry groans in embarrassment  
“Yeah he’s only had a massive and mildly intrusive crush on him for the past hmmmm.... YEAR” Zayn blurts out  
“Oh okay then” Louis says shyly noticing the outcome of his question has made harry slightly uncomfortable  
“It’s not like anything gonna happen we just talk at the shop and rooftop” Harry responds putting an end to the conversation  
“Well we should get going I’ll drive” Harry says  
“Me and Zayn took my car here so we’re gonna have to bring both cars” Liam responds “How about you take Louis so you have some company”  
“Sounds good let’s go”  
And as discussed Harry did take Louis in his car. When they got in Harry put in his very worn David Bowie CD to over compensate for the awkwardness of the situation.  
“Ah your a Bowie fan” Louis asks  
“Yeah my dad used to listen to him all the time before he passed so I grew up on it”  
“Oh I’m sorry... about your dad” Louis responds looking at the ground  
“It’s fine” Harry says genuinely “what about you, are you a Bowie fan”  
“Not really” Louis says  
Harry nods his head and the two of them sit in awkward quiet for the next few moments before louis breaks the silence.  
“Sorry about earlier I didn’t mean to make it uncomfortable” Louis says  
“What are you talking about” Harry says with genuine confusion  
“The Niall thing I didn’t mean to make it awkward I could tell you were uncomfortable when they were teasing you”  
“Oh that, don’t worry about it it’s just playful teasing, you did nothing wrong” Harry reply’s  
“Oh okay” Louis says relieved  
They continue with brief small talk the rest of the short drive before reaching the abandoned building and meeting Liam, Zayn and a few other friends at the bottom of the stairwell before walking up.  
It wasn’t a large group this time unlike normal. Just the usual stoners from their high school, Niall, Annie, Jordan and some other girl Harry doesn’t recognize. They notice the change in the atmosphere from normal. It’s been a couple weeks since they all got together and the solemness was understandable considering the circumstances of the past few weeks. String lights were hung and draped over abandoned satellites, scrap plywood and metal poles they collected from alleyways in the previous years. Wine glasses replaced the usual cheap beer they chugged like their life depended on. The air smelled of weed, cigarette smoke and humidity. “Classy” Harry thought to himself before drawing his attention to the new girl sitting on the edge of the roof with a cigarette to her mouth and wine glass in her left hand. Niall notices the presence of Harry and the other three boys and signals for the girl to stand up. Harry waves at him as he walks over.  
“Hey guys” Niall says  
“Hey” everyone responds in unison  
“I uh- I’d like to introduce you to my girlfriend Sage” Niall says with a shyly executed sense of pride  
Harry can feel his heart crush with those few words. “Girlfriend” He didn’t even think Niall liked girls. It shouldn’t have been this big of a deal to Harry he didn’t even have a chance after all, right? A million thoughts ran through his head but instead of letting himself freak out and embarrass himself he said hello to Sage and excused himself before walking over to the corner of the rooftop and grabbing a bottle of cheap wine to drink. Harry drank that night, and he drank a lot. So much that he wasn’t safe to drive a car by the end of the night. Liam and Zayn made the executive decision leave Harrys car there overnight and drive him home themselves. The four boys packed into the car before heading off. They made sure to get Harry home safely then dropped off Louis at his apartment before getting themselves home.  
Harry walked in quietly and sobered up enough to fake out his mom when she bombarded him with questions of his whereabouts. He stood far enough away from her to hide the smell of the cheap liquor and make his way to bed without getting caught. He put in his headphones and started playing his playlist of heartbreak pop he had previously made for this exact moment. That night was the first night in a while Harry had questioned his own worth. Wondering if he even deserved the people he had in his life. Sure it might have been the alcohol talking but it didn’t make him feel anymore hopeful he would fall in love before death. He was okay with that though, it made it easier. He wasn’t afraid of dying because he didn’t have anyone to lose. Sure he had family and friends he already grieved for but this was different. He had accepted his final fate and made the decision to live his last few weeks with no boundaries. So he sat there and wrote a bucket list. A year ago he would’ve laughed at the idea of one and called it off as cheesy and unnecessary but he felt inclined to begin one now. After writing his last bullet he lied in bed and fell asleep immediately dreaming of the days yet to come.


End file.
